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GMC Forum _ GEAR & PRODUCTION _ Effects Pedals
Posted by: Becca Apr 9 2014, 03:55 PM
Hello lovely GMC people. Judging by the responses to my last posting about the Riddle pedal being an overlooked piece of kit,I would say that my opinion on it was 100% correct. Completely overlooked. Mark my words guys, in the future this is going to be the classic stompbox everyone wished they had!
So there 
Okay, Becca sulk over. What will happen if I put the ball in your court, I wonder?
I have only been interested in pedals for the last two years or so, really. My first time around I occasionally used a BOSS Chorus. I forget the model but it was the standard BOSS blue chorus that was so ubiquitous in the 80's. Everyone had one. It is only since I have rediscovered my interest in playing that the idea of having a pedal board has really got under my skin. Apart from occasional open mic nights at the local i tend to play at home so my board is actually a pedal bag that the lid zips off to reveal the goodies beneath. perfectly adequate for the light use it gets from me.
The problem is once you start getting into pedals its difficult to know when to stop. you know what I mean?
I am really interested in what adorns the boards of my fellow GMCer's.
What effects pedals are contributing to your awesome sound?
Is there really a correct order to have your pedals on the board?
What are the ESSENTIAL pedals to have?
Is there ONE pedal that you absolutely cannot live without, not including digital multi fx ?
What is the dream pedal that you really, really covet and want for your very own?
And most importantly, I am including a pic of my very crowded pedal bag. What, in your opinion is the pedal I should have, but don't?
Please fellow muso's. If you can take a pic of the board arrangement that works for you then post it in the replies. I would love to see how others ROCK THE WORLD!
Laters .
Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 10 2014, 01:01 AM
Goodness that's a bit of a mess but with a good pedal board you can clean it right up Also, adding a pedal power supply that will mount to the board is a good idea if possible.
You've got plenty of fx there The problem you may run in to (quite common among pedal folks) is that you have to hit three pedals before going in to a solo. Sort of a pain and and needless these days since something like this will fix that for ya.
For about $130
THE JOYO PEDAL SWITCHER
Add that and you can program your pedals in groups so that foot switch #1 is all the pedals in your rythm tone for example and pedal #2 is all the pedals in your lead sound
and get something to put all this on so it's easy to deal with
Pedal Train 2 (about $120)
I picked units that I'd buy myself given the price point and build quality. Of course any unit will do
Once you have that it's really down to you as to what you'll need. From the sounds of it, you have every pedal you might need for starters, just need the bits above to turn it in to a workable 'Rig" As far as individual pedals, I really LOVED the Pro Tone Bulb Deluxe overdrive which they are going to be making again soon for about $225 ( I paid $300 at the time)
I"m also really digging a new "boutique" overdrive pedal from a Brazilian vendor called FURHMANN who I found out about by watching a crazy good player named MARCO DEROSS who I"m subscribed to.
So there
Okay, Becca sulk over. What will happen if I put the ball in your court, I wonder?
I have only been interested in pedals for the last two years or so, really. My first time around I occasionally used a BOSS Chorus. I forget the model but it was the standard BOSS blue chorus that was so ubiquitous in the 80's. Everyone had one. It is only since I have rediscovered my interest in playing that the idea of having a pedal board has really got under my skin. Apart from occasional open mic nights at the local i tend to play at home so my board is actually a pedal bag that the lid zips off to reveal the goodies beneath. perfectly adequate for the light use it gets from me.
The problem is once you start getting into pedals its difficult to know when to stop. you know what I mean?
I am really interested in what adorns the boards of my fellow GMCer's.
What effects pedals are contributing to your awesome sound?
Is there really a correct order to have your pedals on the board?
What are the ESSENTIAL pedals to have?
Is there ONE pedal that you absolutely cannot live without, not including digital multi fx ?
What is the dream pedal that you really, really covet and want for your very own?
And most importantly, I am including a pic of my very crowded pedal bag. What, in your opinion is the pedal I should have, but don't?
Please fellow muso's. If you can take a pic of the board arrangement that works for you then post it in the replies. I would love to see how others ROCK THE WORLD!
Laters .
Posted by: klasaine Apr 10 2014, 01:21 AM
For me the 'essential' can't live without its are delay, some type of OD, usually a volume pedal and a tuner.
A lot of the time I will also use a compressor, especially if I know I'm using a backlined amp of unknown origin.
I hang out with a lot of guitar players and we all have different opinions on what's essential.
As far as fx order ... I like drives before any modulation or delay/reverb.
Fuzzes and wahs generally like to see a straight signal from a guitar pkup.
Quality power supply and decent patch cables.
That's about it really. I switch things up all the time.
Here's one board:
I play only baritone guitar on one of the gigs I do:
The Celtic rock band I'm in I use this:
And here's 'mini' board I fly with:
Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 10 2014, 02:50 AM
So on the first pedal board, are you doing the "stomp three boxes" before the solo technique? Or do you just leave them all on except for the overdrive?
A lot of the time I will also use a compressor, especially if I know I'm using a backlined amp of unknown origin.
I hang out with a lot of guitar players and we all have different opinions on what's essential.
As far as fx order ... I like drives before any modulation or delay/reverb.
Fuzzes and wahs generally like to see a straight signal from a guitar pkup.
Quality power supply and decent patch cables.
That's about it really. I switch things up all the time.
Here's one board:
I play only baritone guitar on one of the gigs I do:
The Celtic rock band I'm in I use this:
And here's 'mini' board I fly with:
Posted by: klasaine Apr 10 2014, 03:26 AM
Delay and comp are usually always on and I kick in the drive for lead. Or, depending on the tune, I'll also have the OD on but have the volume on my guitar down and turn it up for a solo.
The phaser on that board probably gets used once or twice a night.
Posted by: Darius Wave Apr 10 2014, 09:01 AM
Well Becca 
In deed Your pedalboard looks a bit twisted
I'm not a stomp type of guy but still some pedals seems to be essential for me.
For example:
Tuner
Wah Wah
and a type od boost (like MXR micro amp). It's more about to get crunch on the amp (which works perfect for me while riffing) and add a bit of sustain or controlled feedback on stage.
Rest of stuff like delay, vol control and modulation effect goes from rack - TC G-Major. Main reasons? I always use distortion from the amp and need to have things connected to fx loop. Second is I like to have short chords to keep minim signal loss.
Third reason does not refer to all amps but it happens. some models react badly to the long length of chords. If You put 2 x 6m chord (send + return) You loose tone quality.
Posted by: dcz702 Apr 10 2014, 11:08 AM
My can't live without pedal is my boss loopsation. It has simple drum patterns that I use in place of a metronome and I can loop and layer ideas to try to come up with new ideas, and a tuner is a must have on my board. After that my mxr wah is my favorite pedal. But I'm not to much of a pedal guy. I'm about to add a mesa boogie tone burst.
Posted by: tonymiro Apr 10 2014, 11:49 AM
A good compressor like a Keeley is probably the one floor stomp box that many people should have but don't.
Posted by: PosterBoy Apr 10 2014, 03:12 PM
I'll add my 2p in even though I use the Axe Fx
My main clean patches have
2 ODs one adding gain, one pushing the front of the amp harder, Chorus, Before the amp
After the amp
Rotary, Trem and Flanger, Reverb (in parallel) then 2 Delays in Parallel (1 short delay around 350ms or a 1/8th / Dotted 1/8th delay) and a long (550ms delay used for solos) then a 3db boost.
Crunch patches are similar but just the OD pushing the front end of the amp
Lead patches I don't have Tremelo put do have a phaser before the amp
Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 10 2014, 09:31 PM
Well said The compressor is probably the most under rated bit of kit. I use a mult fx so my comp is part of the chain and sometimes l'll use two depending on the patch.
For lead work a compressor is really handy. It can make the guitar a bit more expressive in general imho. It can allow a light touch that still drives the gain enough and permits dynamic play.
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 11 2014, 08:16 AM
For me, it's fairly simple
Reverb and Delay in the FX loop and Noise Suppressor, Booster/OD, Phaser (sometimes) and tuner up front. That's pretty much all I need. I am an 'organic-stick to little' kind of guy, but it all depends on what you want from your rig, you know..
Posted by: Becca Apr 12 2014, 02:58 PM
Wicked stuff Guys. All good solid commonsense there. Compression is useful pedal to have though I don't use it much. Back when I had my strat a DOD comp did the job. The one I have on the board is actually a Behringer DC9, which is a DynaComp clone I believe? Any way it works fine. doesn't seem to add anymore hiss than any of the others but I only use it when there is a lot of chord picking arpeggio style. Rush stuff usually. Anyway the MXR noise clamp takes care of pretty much all unwanted signal. You cant see in my picture but I have the Memory man Left channel fed back into the right channel to double the effect. Makes Chorus sound fantastically swirly and phased and longer delay gets that Gilmour sound bang on.
Agreed the bag looks crowded but its design is such that all the patch leads have to lie along side the boxes rather than underneath, a la PedalTrain boards. Which are LUDICROUSLY overpriced for what is essentially a few strips of wood screwed together. My fella is looking to make a board for me from salvage stuff at the local fleamarket. I will let you know how it progresses.The other FX featured are a Rothwell Tornado OD pedal. One of the very best available guys. you should check them out! A EHX Pulsar for the Dazed and Confused moments in my life and of course my faithful Morley.
A little side note about Morley. I stupidly put the wrong mains adaptor into it a couple of years ago and cooked it completely. I emailed Morley and twenty quid through PayPal and a few days waiting a new circuit board arrived in the post. Hows that for quality service?
A Korg digital tuner sits on top of my multi power adapter and finally the amps channel switch.
Wowsers! now thats neatly laid out. Whats the wah pedal on the right, is it a colourTone?
Also, adding a pedal power supply that will mount to the board is a good idea if possible. You've got plenty of fx there
The problem you may run in to (quite common among pedal folks) is that you have to hit three pedals before going in to a solo. Sort of a pain and and needless these days since something like this will fix that for ya.For about $130
THE JOYO PEDAL SWITCHER
Add that and you can program your pedals in groups so that foot switch #1 is all the pedals in your rythm tone for example and pedal #2 is all the pedals in your lead sound
and get something to put all this on so it's easy to deal with
Pedal Train 2 (about $120)
I picked units that I'd buy myself given the price point and build quality. Of course any unit will do
Once you have that it's really down to you as to what you'll need. From the sounds of it, you have every pedal you might need for starters, just need the bits above to turn it in to a workable 'Rig"
As far as individual pedals, I really LOVED the Pro Tone Bulb Deluxe overdrive which they are going to be making again soon for about $225 ( I paid $300 at the time)I"m also really digging a new "boutique" overdrive pedal from a Brazilian vendor called FURHMANN who I found out about by watching a crazy good player named MARCO DEROSS who I"m subscribed to.
Hey Todd, yes I am sometimes tap dancing away for a couple of songs, and that there footswitch looks like the answer. I assume they plug into each group of peds I want use. Mainly switching from crunch tones to a searing lead is biggest headache if I have a fx pedal that needs to be disengaged too. ! I will certainly have a look at this. Thank you.
A lot of the time I will also use a compressor, especially if I know I'm using a backlined amp of unknown origin.
I hang out with a lot of guitar players and we all have different opinions on what's essential.
As far as fx order ... I like drives before any modulation or delay/reverb.
Fuzzes and wahs generally like to see a straight signal from a guitar pkup.
Quality power supply and decent patch cables.
That's about it really. I switch things up all the time.
Here's one board:
I play only baritone guitar on one of the gigs I do:
The Celtic rock band I'm in I use this:
And here's 'mini' board I fly with:
Hi kenny. I love the fact u have so many boards for different scenarios. I am not jealous at all, ahem.
Thats sensible though and something I would consider if I was going back into the band circuit. I am not ruling it out but the late nights terrify me now I am ancient and with a "proper" job!
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Apr 12 2014, 04:20 PM
I'm not using too many effects nowadays. It depends on the music you play and your tastes. This is my set up for tonight's show with Cirse:
Volume Pedal
Wah Wah
Overdrive
Delay
Phaser
Tuner
and maybe my Boss Chorus.
We will be playing around 26 songs (included an acoustic set) so it's a long concert.
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 12 2014, 09:15 PM
Hey mate I am curious to know - how does the Noiseclamp work for you? I loved the presentation video, but I have never had the occasion to try it. I currently own the ISP Decimator pedal which does it's job just fine, but you know, if there's something better out there, why not ask?
Posted by: Jeroen Apr 13 2014, 09:33 AM
I like to keep things simple. I work with minimum number of pedals. Delay with built in chorus and vibrato and a overdrive pedal. The only thing that's missing is a good wah. Reverb is on my tube amp. Works for me. 
Posted by: dcz702 Apr 13 2014, 09:51 AM
Thanks. I like to keep things tidy.
you know us guitar players with our cables spread out everywhere and gear might as we'll organize what you can. The wah is a mxr cae wah (custom audio electronics) I replaced my crybaby with it. Sounds better I think, and has 2 voicings with a boost, 2 switches on the side of the pedal so you can tap them with the side of your foot to engage the boost or tap the other on the left and toggle the voicing.
Posted by: tonymiro Apr 13 2014, 11:22 AM
Just a suggestion - try not to run power leads parallel to audio signal (and particularly unbalanced) leads.
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 13 2014, 05:55 PM
My kind of setup
Simple and tidy - can't be too messy when you don't use a lot of things, can it? As I said before, a setup which is well thought of, reflects the needs of it's owner - I think it should be like this in general
What do you think - to what extent can you 'read' a player by his pedalboard?
Posted by: klasaine Apr 13 2014, 06:14 PM
Yes and no.
If I didn't tell you, would be able to tell I only played baritone guitar with this rig?
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 13 2014, 06:21 PM
If I didn't tell you, would be able to tell I only played baritone guitar with this rig?
I could say you could be playing surf music because of the Tremolo
That could include a baritone 
Posted by: klasaine Apr 13 2014, 06:35 PM
That could include a baritone 
I thought you'd say something like that.If you look at the board carefully it's Compressor, Tremolo, Boost, Delay ... NO overdrive at all so definitely something that's more ambient/atmospheric.
Here's the band. 'Run Downhill' ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49zxWtoyZmw
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 14 2014, 07:20 AM
I thought you'd say something like that.If you look at the board carefully it's Compressor, Tremolo, Boost, Delay ... NO overdrive at all so definitely something that's more ambient/atmospheric.
Here's the band. 'Run Downhill' ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49zxWtoyZmw
I will take that as a compliment
Not as if I am becoming easy to read But this is more country oriented, am I right?
Posted by: Darius Wave Apr 14 2014, 08:21 AM
The design of tremolo stomp is lovely I would definitely guess it's for baritone guitar 
Posted by: Britishampfan Apr 18 2014, 07:42 AM
My most used pedals.
Dallas Arbiter fuzz Germanium
Zvex Wooly Mammoth fuzz-Silicon
Rangemaster
Clean boost
Overdrive
Big box old rat.
Caroline Wave cannon
Mesa pre-amp
Time based
Tube Rotosphere
MUtron phasor
dano- cool cat chours
Guytone delay digital
made my own analog delay
Out of hundreds of pedals those are my keepers but pedals are like currency for guitar players, buy sell trade.
On a normal gig I have a boost or an overdrive, a delay thats about it.
Posted by: Becca Apr 20 2014, 03:34 PM
I am curious to know - how does the Noiseclamp work for you? I loved the presentation video, but I have never had the occasion to try it. I currently own the ISP Decimator pedal which does it's job just fine, but you know, if there's something better out there, why not ask? Hello my friend. Apologies for delay in getting back to you. Work has been crazy!!. The Noise clamp is pretty amazing for the money. Its set up is different to other noise limiters in that it becomes its own FX Loop. And the Gate level is BRILLIANT. careful adjustment allows feedback if you want it but when you want silence, it will handle that with aplomb. I would certainly recommend it to others. I suggest you give it serious thought. For a live set up at gig volume I cannot fault it.
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 20 2014, 07:51 PM
Awesomeness
Unfortunately, the ISP is 'static' if I may say so But the noise clamp seems like a great thing for me as I am sometimes dealing with either low signal due to the ISP having to be turned up when I need to play with high gain or face the noises if I lower the level of the ISP. Thank you, I will definitely look into it And for those of you guys who don't know this pedal, here's oen of the nicest promo clips for it:Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
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